6 a.m. seems to be my regular time for waking up these days. Berck is long gone by then, and it’s just starting to get light at that time. (Also, Berck makes us go to bed at 7:30 p.m.) I tried to get some stuff done before I left for work.

Duncan had left me an e-mail saying he needed a badge that said, “Duncan Bremer — Candidate for Congress.” So I typed “badge” into Google and found a place that made them on Nevada Avenue. I called the number, thinking they might have a recording saying what their hours are. But a guy answered the phone. It was 6:53 a.m. He told me I could come by at 8. I found the place at 7:45, but the doors were open, so I let myself in. The fellow was very helpful, and by the time we decided on something, one of the ladies who does the badges had arrived (the guy did banners). I was able to pick it up at 2:30 p.m., in time to get it to Duncan to wear to an event in Denver that he left for at 3.

After stopping by the sign shop, I picked up the Bremers’ mail and Wall Street Journal, fed the horses down at the barn, and drove up just in time to see Michele and Duncan scrambling into their car, all dressed up. “11:15, Broadmoor International Center!” yelled Michele to me. “Find a skirt in my closet to wear!” And they were off.

Since my apartment is on the way to the Broadmoor, I just stopped home and put on a skirt and some flats. The event was Duncan’s brother Jerry’s speech and book signing. He’s a good speaker and has a good sense of humor, although he’s been on a book tour for a month now, so he’s probably had plenty of practice. We were all invited to fill out an index card on the table and let them be collected for the Q&A period at the end of the presentation. I wrote, “Do you still have a price on your head of one kilogram of gold?” but the MC didn’t pick mine to ask.

I’d had one other interaction with Jerry so far. When he was doing a flurry of interviews right when his book came out, I wrote him an e-mail, telling him what to expect as a guess on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The Daily Show is one of our favorite TV programs, and the fact that we go out of our way to watch it when we don’t even have a TV is testament to our appreciation. The Daily Show, for those of you who have never seen it, is a “fake news show.” They actually talk about real events, just add something silly, ridiculous, and patently false at the end for the joke. But for being a comedy show, they actually have interesting, important, and influential guests on the program. And Jon Stewart actually asks good questions. Then he cracks a joke.

I’d figured Jerry had probably never seen the program, and since he’d most recently been on a string of serious shows, like Fresh Air, The Today Show, and Hannity and Colmes, he might be broadsided. So I wrote him an e-mail (I knew his e-mail address from when the Polish journalist called for it), warning him what to expect on The Daily Show. I warned him not to laugh, only smirk or chuckle (guests who laugh always sound stupid and surprised). I encouraged him to crack jokes. I also told him that Jon would think he was a frequent viewer if he said, “By the way, Dick Cheney is not a cyborg.” (For a while there, Jon was asking everyone who had been in the administration if he were. Although, you might expect a cyborg to shoot his friend in the face.) Jerry didn’t talk about Cheney in the interview, but he did do a fabulous job, I thought. He got a lot of laughs, and Jon told him to settle down, twice!

Before and after the speech, Duncan networked with as many people as he could, handing out business cards, because we don’t have brochures or anything yet. So many people have already committed to supporting one of the other candidates months ago, when Hefley hadn’t even announced he wasn’t running for reelection. Others say they can’t make a decision yet. Which is understandable. There are currently four people definitely running. Oh, and one Democrat.

Afterward, Jerry sat at the back of the huge room and signed books. They also had a huge table full of books for sale, and a lot of people bought them there. Duncan’s son Eli and his wife Cami had brought a box of books, and Duncan and Michele had brought two boxes of books, and Jerry signed them all… most of them with notes to particular people. I had my one book that Nathan wanted signed. I text messaged him during the speech, asking him what he want Jerry to write. He answered, “cheney is not a cyborg.–name.”

When the line thinned out, I lugged the boxes of books over to Jerry’s signing table and conferred with his assistant about when he could sign them. I also told Jerry, “Great job on The Daily Show!”

“Thanks!” he said, “But I don’t know anyone who watches it. My kids told me, ‘Oh, Don’t go on that show.’”

He signed Nathan’s book, “To Nathan–L. Paul Bremer.”

Oh, well.

Tomorrow is another day. I think I’ll get up early and get stuff done.